A migraine drug once-endorsed by Serena Williams has been cited amid oversold advertising claims of its benefits.
Last month, on August 29, the Food and Drug Administration notified pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbieVie that a commercial starring the tennis phenom for the prescription drug Ubrelvy was misleading.
The federal agency took issue with the ad that was distributed four years ago. Around that time, Williams revealed that he had been suffering from chronic migraines throughout his career in sports.
She cited the drug as a source of “relief” as she juggled being a first-time mother to Olympia’s daughter Alexis Ohanian, a wife, entrepreneur, and navigating the pandemic lockdown.
“I don’t know if I’ve had a migraine attack since I started taking Ubrelvy, to be honest,” he told People in April 2021. to deal with,” he added.
The FDA said AbbieVie used Williams’ celebrity status to promote misleading representations about the drug’s ability to treat severe headaches.
The agency highlighted a scene from the ad depicting the 23-time Grand Slam champion suffering from a migraine while in the dressing room of a talk show. A hallway with glaring lights turned into a blue path that she walks down with ease while holding up a 100 mg packet of medication.
“When a migraine attacks, you will face a choice. Ride it out with tradeoffs or treat? Or push the pain and symptoms?” says Williams in a voiceover. “With Ubrelvy, there is another option. One dose can be used quickly to relieve migraine pain,” he said.
As the commercial continues, she is finally seen laughing and smiling without pain. The FDA pointed out that the storyboard describing the ad did not show the time lapse between the opening scene and the one in which Williams experienced relief.
Another ad shows Williams doing boxing exercises, playing tennis, and getting stuck in traffic when he reaches for a 100 mg packet to ease his problem. “Isn’t he rich???? why does she sell drugs?” wrote someone on YouTube, where the archive of her partnership with AbbieVie can be found.
Today my neurologist was like “this migraine medicine is Lady Gaga and this one is Serena Williams” and it was a dark moment in medical history.
– ali sail (@OnlineAlison) February 5, 2024
Elsewhere on Twitter, someone described the use of celebrities to push drugs as “a dark moment in medical history.”
“These claims and presentations misleadingly suggest that Ubrelvy provides greater benefits for patients with acute headaches than has been demonstrated,” wrote the FDA.
They continued, “This compelling before-after presentation in conjunction with claims such as ‘One dose works quickly to relieve headaches’ and Ubrelvy ‘quickly relieves headaches’ misleadingly suggests that Ubrelvy relieves headaches and symptoms faster than it was shown in clinical trials .”
Two separate trials tested the efficacy of the medication, one determines its effect on pain two hours after a single dose of either 50 mg or 100 mg and the other on its ability to dull migraine symptoms such as nausea and light sensitivity with the same control (dose and time frame).
According to the FDA, the results do not support the view that “Some people have pain relief in 2 hours” and that “One dose works quickly to relieve migraine pain” is a misleading marketing ploy that did not show up during clinical trials. Between 19 and 22 percent of participants experienced pain relief; on the contrary, 78 to 81 percent of the party did not have that experience after a single dose.
The company is given 15 days after receiving the letter to respond to the discrepancies. They may defend the description of the medication or be required to detail actions to stop promotional communications that violate the FD&C Act as well as stop the distribution of Ubrelvy.
In addition, in a written response, they can also defend the treatment against claims that it violates the federal act.
The commercial described in the letter is no longer available for viewing on the prescription drug’s YouTube page, and Williams’ name and likeness have been scrubbed from Ubrelvy’s website. However, the August 17, 2020 post that the athlete was paid to share with his millions of Instagram followers still exists with disabled comments.
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